After You
by Quiet-Jay
Summary: "So," Ronon interrupted his reverie, "when are you gonna tell Weir you love her?" Sparky fluff.


**After You**

Genre + pairing: Sheppard/Weir fluff, with a side of Teyla/Ronon for plot device purposes.  
Spoilers: None. Could take place any time in season 2 or 3, though in my mind it's late season 3.  
Warnings: Couple of bad words, but not _very_ bad ones.  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of _Stargate: Atlantis_ and am not making any money from this.

A/N: This is my first foray into posting here (although this story has been on my LJ for a while) so fingers-crossed I'm doin' it rite. Hope you enjoy!

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John Sheppard leaned against the wall of the sparring room, idly spinning a Bantos rod in one hand. He and Ronon were waiting for Teyla and Elizabeth to finish their workout so they could use the sparring room. If he was a little early, that was because he was an organized kind of guy who liked to keep abreast of the combat capabilities of his colleagues, not because his boss had the most amazing legs and—

"So," Ronon interrupted his reverie, "when are you gonna tell Weir you love her?"

John dropped the Bantos rod.

"What!"

"You look at her like McKay looks at meatloaf."

"I do not— I'm mean, I'm not…"

Ronon raised a skeptical eyebrow. John wanted to deny it, but couldn't bring himself to say the words_._

"Dammit."

_Well, they say the best defense is a good offense…_

"I'll tell her right after _you_ tell Teyla."

John folded his arms and leaned back against the wall nonchalantly. To his horror, Ronon just shrugged.

"Sounds fair."

There was no time to backtrack, as the women had finished up and were headed their way. John stared in disbelief as Ronon met Teyla halfway, took some of her gear off her hands, and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Love you," he said, loud enough to be heard across the room.

Teyla looked mildly surprised, but returned both the kiss and the words. _What the hell?_

"Ronon," she said quietly, "I thought we agreed—"

"I know," Ronon said, gently rubbing her arm, "but I'll explain later."

With that, he winked at Sheppard and followed Teyla out the door.

"That was _not _fair," John hissed as they passed. He turned to look at Elizabeth and was relieved to see that she also looked a little taken aback by what they had just witnessed.

"That was… interesting," she commented, pulling an over-sized t-shirt on over her workout singlet. "I take it you didn't know either?"

"Nope."

Elizabeth shrugged and grinned. "Well, good for them. I wonder how long they've been together."

"I wonder who won the pool," said John, trying to recall the date he'd bet on.

"Won't be me, I had a couple of months from now," said Elizabeth. She finished stuffing gear into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Well, it looks like you've lost your sparring partner. Want to grab some lunch?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

Then he remembered the 'deal' he'd made with Ronon. Even though his friend hadn't played fair, John's manly honor still demanded he fulfill his end.

"But I gotta, uh, tell you something first."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at his obvious discomfort.

"I'm all ears. John, is something wrong?"

"No…" He examined his shoes. There were _reasons_ why he'd never told Elizabeth how he felt about her. Reasons that flooded his mind now. Chief among them was the fact that Elizabeth Weir was waaaay out of his league and telling her could only end with him being laughed at, slapped, or let down so gently it would hurt.

"John?"

He couldn't do it. Screw manly honor.

"Never mind, it's not important." He pasted on a cheerful grin. "Let's eat."

A hand on his arm stopped him from turning away.

"_John_."

Elizabeth had moved closer. She looked him steadily in the eye, her thumb rubbing his shoulder reassuringly.

"Clearly it is important. Spit it out."

He stared back at her. Without make-up, hair in a rare messy ponytail, she was more beautiful than anything the Ancients had come up with.

John ducked forward and kissed her. All his doubts melted away when Elizabeth slid her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He matched her enthusiasm, grabbing handfuls of her baggy t-shirt to pull her in close.

"You're beautiful," he murmured when they broke apart, not realizing he'd said it out loud until her face broke into a shy smile.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

"No, I wanted to tell you that I love you. The beautiful thing just slipped out."

"Well, thank-you." She kissed him on the chin. "I love you too, John."

Her expression turned thoughtful. "Any chance Ronon had something to do with this?"

"Uh, sort of… Why?" He _really_ hoped she wouldn't be mad that he'd kissed her because of what was essentially a dare.

"I'm pretty sure he had today in the bet on us getting together."

_Bastard._

"I don't know whether to kill the guy or buy him a beer."

Elizabeth chuckled and gave him another searing, brain-scrambling kiss.

"How about you decide later?"

~ The End ~


End file.
